Premiership Predictions, 10th-14th January  

Last week I had 6 correct results, including one exact score (West Ham 2-1 Stoke)

Aston Villa 2 - 0 West Brom

Villa are on the make at the moment, and while bottom-of-the-table West Brom will be up for this local derby, I see Villa being too good, even though they will possibly miss the influencial Garath Barry through injury.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Bolton

Arsenal are missing several key players for this clash with Bolton, who have fallen back a bit after a good run. The boys from Wanderers always make life hard for Arsenal though, and I can see them getting a point at the captain-less Gooners.

Everton 1 - 0 Hull City

Everton are an odd team at the moment. Ever since all their strikers got injured, they can't stop winning. Hull had a poor end to 2008 and will be looking to start the new year in positive fashion, but Everton haven't conceded in four games, and will edge this one, I suspect.

Fulham 2 - 0 Blackburn

Fulham are the form team in the premiership at the moment, and while Blackburn have found a new lease of life under Big Sam, transfer speculation dogs the club, both in and out, and you get the feeling that they won't have their minds quite on the job, as well as doubting themselves after losing a clear two-goal lead in the last five minutes to Man City last time out in the league.

Middlesbro 1 - 1 Sunderland

Both teams have been inconsistant lately, and if this game were at sunderland were at home, I would pick them to edge it. Stewart Downing is a consumate professional, but we shall see with this game what the real situation is regarding his possible move to Tottenham. Boro might be denying anyone will leave, but player power is huge these days.

Newcastle 2 - 1 West Ham

After a wobble under Zola, West Ham have had a good run of results lately, but Newcastle are also building slowly under Joe Kinnear, and expect brawn to win out over style this time around. And of course I also expect to see streams of geordies leaving after about 65 minutes because their team isn't winning 8-0...

Portsmouth 1 - 1 Man City

Pompey haven't done well in the transfer market so far, losing Lassana Diarra and Jermaine Defoe, but Peter Crouch is their star forward at the moment, and their other targeted player, Glen Johnson, has just signed a new 4 and a half year contract committing himself to the club. Man City will be smarting from defeat against Forrest in the Cup, but they're missing Steven Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, meaning disgruntled Elano and Petrov may play - not a great sign for the sky-blues, who have been poor away from home all season.

Stoke City 0 - 2 Liverpool

Stoke may throw up a suprise against the league leaders, but I don't really expect it. Liverpool appear to have gotten over their mental block of 0-0 draws, and have the chance to go 6 points clear of second placed Chelsea with a win at the Potters, and with a returning Fernando Torres being gifted a goal by captain Gerrard in the FA Cup, he'll be hungry for more.

Wigan 2 - 1 Tottenham

Brand-new strike partnership of Defoe and Pavlyuchenko has the potential to be excellent for Spurs, but they've only had a few days training together, and any partnership takes time to click. Expect Bentley to be nowhere to be seen this time out, but Wigan, through the occasionally magnificent Antonio Valencia may well be able to exploit Spurs' left-back weakness. Also, I never predict Spurs to win, because it tends to curse them.

Man Utd 1 - 0 Chelsea

A huge match, this. If Chelsea win, you feel United will have a very difficult job on their hands to make up ground. It's a match that can really only end with one winner though - Liverpool. Scolari's team are showing a few cracks at the moment, and ignoring his players pleas, along with the bizarre assertion that in his entire squad, only the injured Florent Malouda can play on the left wing despite including one of the best left wingers England has seen in a long time in Joe Cole, you get the feeling that United will edge this, though it could still go either way.

Man Utd 2 - 0 Wigan